Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting clearly missed being back home as he had to stay a little longer to conclude the fifth day of the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval on Monday. Nasser Hussain and Ponting have been against each other in the past while leading their respective countries. However, they share a great rapport as commentators and this was seen in a video posted by Sky Sports Cricket when Hussain mocked Ponting for missing his flight.
In the video, Ricky Ponting was also seen telling how David Warner teased him for missing the flight. Here’s the video:
Ricky Ponting missed his flight home! 🥲 pic.twitter.com/cBYwYoVTJL
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 31, 2023
Ricky Ponting wants ball-change controversy to be ‘investigated’
One of the major talking points of the fifth Ashes Test was the controversial ball change that took place on the fourth day. Usman Khawaja and David Warner had put on over a hundred runs for the first wicket and there was no real seam movement for the hosts.
However, umpires Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena decided to change the ball as they felt the ball was out of shape when Mark Hood hit Khawaja’s helmet in the 37th over. The replacement ball was surprisingly much newer and stiffer than the old one and provided seam movement. Ricky Ponting was enraged at the sight of how different the two balls looked and questioned the umpires for making such a huge mistake. Here’s what he told Sky Sports:
“I just cannot fathom how two international umpires that have done it a lot of times before can get that so wrong. That is a huge moment in this game, potentially a huge moment in the Test match, and something I think actually has to be investigated: whether there was the right condition of balls in the box, or the umpires have just, blase, picked one out of there that they think will be okay to use.”
He added:
Double the amount of movement this morning from yesterday afternoon, seam movement and swing. I think it’s a huge blunder that needs to be investigated.”
While England will regret missing out on the chance to lift the Urn, Australia will be a tad disappointed that they are yet to win a Test series on English soil since 2001.
